Various mold presses are known in which upper and lower mold carriers are vertically reciprocated during a mold process by hydraulic cylinders to apply, maintain and release clamping pressure on upper and lower mold sections that are attached to the upper and lower mold carriers, respectively. In such cases it is also known to include hydraulic drives for pivoting the mold carriers in so called booking presses to provide operators with access to the mold sections attached to the mold carriers. Operators require such access to remove finished molded products from the mold press, to insert parts, such as retainers and shells in the mold sections prior to injecting or pouring-in foam, and to periodically clean-out mold cavities of the mold sections.
A booking press of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,732 issued Feb. 1, 1994 to Eggert. The Eggert patent discloses a mold press apparatus with an upper mold carrier supported on a mold press frame above a lower mold carrier supported on a mold press base. The upper mold carrier is supported for pivotal movement about a upper mold pivot axis that is displaced from the upper mold carrier. The upper mold carrier is also supported for reciprocal movement toward and away from the upper mold pivot axis. However, The Eggert mold press does not both rotate and pivotally tip the upper mold carrier.
What is needed is a mold press with an upper mold carrier that can be rotated and pivotally tipped into positions ergonomically suited to various operators and positions that accommodate a variety of mold/retainer configurations.